The field of the present invention is assembly features for vehicles such as motorcycles and the like.
Generally the front wheel of a two-wheeled vehicle such as a motorcycle or a scooter is provided with a front fender which covers the upper part thereof for the purpose of preventing mud splashing on the vehicle and rider caused by the rotation of the front wheel.
This type of front fender in conventional use is mounted as shown, for example, in FIGS. 1 and 2. The vehicle has a basic mounting structure with a pair of brackets 2b, front and rear, attached on two outer tubes 2a of a front fork 2 in turn supporting a front wheel 1. Both side plates 3a of a front fender 3 are bolted to the vehicle through the brackets 2b.
The front fender 3 is mounted by mounting a metal support plate 4, which is formed along the contour of the inner surface of the front fender 3, inside of the front fender 3 as shown in FIG. 2. The fender 3 is mounted by attaching the metal support plate 4 with a rivet 5 to the upper part of the front fender 3, by welding a nut member 6 to the inner surface of both the right and left side plates of the metal support plate 4, and further by tightening the flange bolt 7 to be inserted into the mounting hole 2c of the bracket 2b from outside of the vehicle (to the left in FIG. 2) into the member 6.
According to the above-described front fender mounting structure, the metal support plate 4 having the nut member 6 for fastening the flange bolt 7 must be disposed inside of the front fender 3, and, therefore, there remains the following problems to be solved:
Firstly, the installation of the metal support plate 4 to the front fender 3 requires time, resulting in a low operation efficiency. PA0 Secondly, the installation of the metal support plate 4 raises production costs.
Thirdly, it is necessary to make the mounting hole 3a in the upper part of the front fender 3 for mounting the rivet 5 which supports the metal support plate 4, detracting from the appearance of the vehicle.
Rear fender mounting structures for vehicles such as two-wheeled motorcycles have been used to mount rear fenders to motorcycle rear forks such that the feeders may rock together with the rear forks to which they are mounted. In such systems, a rear fork cover section covering at least the upper surface of a rear fork supporting a rear wheel and a fender section covering the upper front part of the rear wheel are typically produced of resin in one body. In mounting the above-described rear fender to the rear fork, there is generally provided a plurality of bosses mating with each other in the mounting positions. These bosses are connected by means of a bolt and nut.
Since the rear fender is formed to appear integral with the rear fork and swings together with the rear fork, the rear fork being produced of aluminum for example, it is sometimes designed to be painted to look like aluminum or in a color close to that of aluminum so that these parts appear as if produced as a single member. However, the need for fasteners positioned visibly reveals that the rear fender is not formed integrally with the rear fork, impairing the appearance of unitary structure.
Common today are full-covered type two-wheeled motorcycles equipped with a cowling mounted to cover almost the whole surface of the vehicle body, from the front to the rear, for wind rectifying and shielding purpose during travel. The cowling of this type is commonly composed of an upper cowl covering the periphery of a handlebar and a headlight at the front of the vehicle body, an under cover covering the side faces of an engine and its peripheral equipment, and a seat cowl extending as far as the rear part of the vehicle body to cover the side lower part of the seat. All these cowls are assembled and mounted on the vehicle body in a streamline form. Of these cowls, the upper cowl has in some cases a curved and continued shape formed along the outside surface of the side of the fuel tank, closing, with the rear top end part thereof, a gap existing between the upper cowl and the front part of the fuel tank.
During travel, the wind coming into the vehicle body from the underside of the upper cowl hits against the inside surface of the part of the upper cowl continued to the fuel tank, raising this part upward. In this case, the use of the fastening means such as bolts may be considered to prevent the rise of the part with the wind. This, however, is disadvantageous because the bolts will be exposed to impair the appearance of the interrupted curved surfaces of the upper cowl and the fuel tank, and moreover time and labor will be required for the assembling of the cowl.
Intake structures have been developed for the purpose of improving the intake efficiency of engines for two-wheeled motorcycles. An intake system passage extending from the engine is inclined higher at the rear than at the front so as to provide as much straight passage as possible. Air cleaners have been connected to such intake system passages and are disposed in a lower recessed section of a fuel tank. Further, air outlet ducts to the air cleaner have been extended forward, opening at the rear of the head pipe.
In the above-described intake structure, the use of a heat shield plate between the air cleaner and the engine has been considered for the purpose of protecting the air cleaner and the air introducing duct from the heat of the engine. Such a heat shield plate, installed in a narrow space enclosed with a main frame above the engine, must be made of a flexible material, for example a rubber sheet, in order to insure easy installation. However, if such a rubber sheet is installed in a position opposite to the air inlet duct, the rubber sheet is likely to become deformed with negative pressure in the engine intake system because of the narrowness of the space.